The government on Thursday said that it will work on the modalities to provide subsidies for electric-ambulances, under the Prime Minister Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme, which was approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday.

A sum of ₹500 crore has been allocated for the deployment of e-ambulances, from the total outlay of ₹10,900 crore of the scheme for a period of two years, HD Kumaraswamy, Minister of Heavy Industries, told reporters here.

“This is a new initiative of the government to promote the use of e-ambulance for a comfortable patient transport. The performance and safety standards of e-ambulances will be formulated in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and other relevant stakeholders,” he said.

Another new segment, which is included in this scheme is the e-trucks, and ₹500 crore has been allocated for incentivising e-trucks. Incentives will be given to those who have a scrapping certificate from MoRTH-approved vehicle scrapping centres (RVSF), with a maximum subsidy limit of around ₹31 lakh on each truck, he informed.

e2W, e3W subsidies

For the electric two-wheelers (e2W) and three-wheelers (e3W), Kumarawamy informed that subsidies/demand incentives disbursal will be 100 per cent in the first year, and in the second year, they it will be cut down to 50 per cent.

For instance, for the e2Ws, it has been fixed based on battery power at ₹5,000 per kilowatt hour (kWh), but the overall incentive will not exceed ₹10,000 in the first year. In the second year, it will be halved by ₹2,500 per kWh, and the overall benefit will not exceed ₹5,000.

Similarly, Kumaraswamy said e-rickshaw buyers can avail of subsidy benefits of ₹25,000 in the first year and ₹12,500 in the second year. For the L5 category (cargo three-wheelers), they will get a benefit of ₹50,000 in the first year, and for the second year, it is ₹25,000, he said.

When asked if the EV manufacturers, who had allegedly flouted FAME-II norms, would be debarred from the PM E-DRIVE, Kumaraswamy said, “How we can encourage them? We will take a decision”.

He also informed that ₹3,679-crore worth have been provided to incentivise e-2Ws, e-3Ws, e-ambulances, e-trucks and other emerging EVs. The scheme will support 24.79 lakh e-2Ws, 3.16 lakh e-3Ws, and 14,028 e-buses.

At the time of purchase of the EV, the scheme portal will generate an Aadhaar authenticated e-voucher for the buyer. A link to download the e-voucher shall be sent to the registered mobile number of the buyer. This e-voucher will be signed by the buyer and submitted to the dealer to avail demand incentives under the scheme, he explained.

“Thereafter, the e-voucher will also be signed by the dealer and uploaded on the PM E-DRIVE portal. The signed e-voucher shall be sent to the buyer and dealer through an SMS. The signed e-voucher will be essential for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to claim reimbursement of demand incentives under the scheme,” he added.